Dexter - The Second Season Blu-rayReview

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The Bay Harbor Butcher looks killer in HD.

By Cindy White

He's back. It's been awhile, but finally, Dexter is here to kill again. If he can just get the chance to do it that is. As the second season opener begins, it's been just a few weeks since the conclusion of season one, and it's been a trying time for Dexter. Doakes, now more suspicious of Dexter than ever, has been constantly following Dexter around, and the result is Dexter hasn't had the freedom or time to kill someone, which is starting to really get to him. Meanwhile, he's had to take his normal-guy routine further than ever, by joining a bowling team no less. Teamed with Maskua and Angel, this is a witty setting for our anti-hero, whose team is (of course) called Bowl Till You Bleed.

But when Dexter finally gets his chance to kill his latest evil target, something goes wrong, filling Dexter with unease and doubt in a way he's never experienced before. And unease is the name of the game for the Morgan siblings, because Deb is a mess, which is understandable, given what happened with her and Rudy last season. Deb has been staying with Dexter, which is an uncomfortable situation for him. Meanwhile she works out incessantly and can barely sleep. As one might expect, this doesn't put her in exactly the best emotional place when she returns to work during the course of the episode.

Dexter was meant to be seen in high-definition, and these discs deliver the same quality as the HD broadcast. From the sherbet-colored palette of Miami's beaches to the neon-colored nightlife to the dark bayous that provide the backdrop for the season's climax, it all looks shiny and clean. As with the Season One set, however, the color has been red shifted (which appears to be intentional at this point), making for skin tones that look constantly sunburned. There's very little grain and no technical flaws in this truly cinematic presentation.

Score: 9 out of 10

Languages and Audio

The soundtrack here is presented in 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, and it's a great showcase for the complex sound design, full of gruesome little details like saws, drills and knives slicing through flesh. There aren't a lot of action beats, but when they do happen – like the explosion of the cabin in the season finale – they are sufficiently powerful. The dialogue is center focused and always easy to make out, as is the eclectic music track, which is consistently full and well balanced. As always, Hall's wry voiceover narration sounds especially crisp and warm. Inviting even. This release also offers a 5.1 Dolby TrueHD track in Spanish.

Score: 8 out of 10

Extras and Packaging

All 12 Season Two episodes are contained here on three discs, packaged in a blue flipper case. As with many of Showtime's releases, there are episode synopses included, but they are printed on the back of the front cover, so they can be seen through the clear blue plastic case, but only when the discs are removed.

The bulk of the special features for Dexter - The Second Season are provided through BD-Live. The extras available on the BD-Live site include a featurette called "Blood Fountains," three installments from the "Dark Defender Series," video interviews with the cast, and first two episodes of the Showtime series United States of Tara. Incidentally, all of these features were made available on the show's official Web site when the episodes originally aired (and can still be found there).

"Blood Fountains" is essentially a minute-long promo covering a publicity stunt (though the feature calls it an "art project") in which a number of fountains in cities all across the country were turned red. The "Dark Defender Series" includes three shorts averaging a minute and a half in length, chronicling the deaths of three individuals at the hands of the "Dark Defender." It features narration in character, though the voice is not provided by Hall. Finally, there are brief video interviews with the following cast members: C.S. Lee, David Zayas, Erik King, Jennifer Carpenter, Julie Benz, Keith Carradine, Lauren Velez and Michael C. Hall (in two parts).

You don't have to be connected to the Internet for the single extra feature included here – an interactive game called "Tools of the Trade." The object is to identify Dexter's tools and put them in his bag using the arrow keys on your remote control. When the objects are all put away, you get a description of each tool. That's it. It's not at all challenging, and kind of pointless, really.

While BD-Live can be a viable option for periodically delivering fresh content to consumers, it's a cop out to release the discs themselves with so little in the way of extras, especially given the storage capacity of Blu-ray. With no episode commentaries or behind-the-scenes material available here, this feels like a bit of a cheat.

Score: 2 out of 10

The Bottom Line

We thought the Blu-ray release of the first season of Dexter fell a bit short and seemed to have been hastily put together, but this set makes that one look like a Criterion release by comparison. At least there were commentaries and some making-of features available for those who don't have BD-Live capability. That's not the case here. What you do get, however, is a complete season of a gripping series that looks and sounds terrific in HD. There are those who don't care at all about extras, and for those people we can highly recommend this release.